8800 GTX Beyond Repair?

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illusionx

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I have an ASUS 8800GTX on an ASUS COMMANDO motherboard.
Today I booted Windows Vista (x64), launched World of Warcraft. Played for about 60 seconds until I get artifacts and the message that the video driver is not responding in windows.
I tried shutting down, didn't work so I did a button reboot.
After rebooting I noticed artifacts appearing all over the black booting text, as well as windows booting. Of course normally the windows didn't boot. I managed to get into it by launching it in safe mode but video artifacts and colors are everywhere.

I have tried reseting all bios settings to default. I have also tried taking out the videocard and cleaning it with a vacuum cleaner, it had a lot of dust on it.
The videocard was not overclocked.

I have to mention that I had the "video driver stopped responding" happen occasionally in the past, but everything worked normally after a computer reboot.

What does this all mean? Is the video card done with? Should I throw it out and try finding a new one? Or is it salvageable since it is a pretty okay card and I wouldn't like to spend money on a new one.
 
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JAYDEEJOHN

JAYDEEJOHN

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It doesnt look good. Things to try. New driver. Check gpu fan, make sure its spinning. Leave the side of your case off, have ahouse fan blow in from the side to help cool things. Underclock your card.
Have you changed anything? A new driver? bios? Ram? etc
 
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illusionx

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I have installed the latest video driver yesterday.
I did a driver rollback in windows' safe mode. Didn't change a thing. That is the only change I've made lately.

OMG Fan is not spinning. What should I do?
 
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4745454b

4745454b

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If it still artifacts after reboot, its done. You can try underclocking it see if that helps, and you might be able to use it for awhile after that, but I'd start looking for another card. As JdJ said, you can also try taking the side of your case off and pointing a house fan at it. That can help keep the temps down as well.

I have also tried taking out the videocard and cleaning it with a vacuum cleaner, it had a lot of dust on it.
Click to expand...

As a reminder to all of our "northern" friends, its summer in the north hemisphere. Now is a great time to clean out your heatsinks. Get a can of compressed air to clean out your PSU as well. By getting the dust out when you have no problems, you'll be able to keep your hardware longer. I do mine at least twice a year.
 
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JAYDEEJOHN

JAYDEEJOHN

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Clean your card as best as possible. Get some compressed air, and blow into it, from the direction of the fans, like the natural air movement with fans running, or towards the back of the card. Hit it hard with the air. After youre satisfied theres nothing left in there, then go back the opposite direction, hit it hard again, and finally once more to the back. This pretty much insures your cooling fins are pretty clean, and must dust and fuzz is removed.
 
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illusionx

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What is the explanation for the fan? Shouldn't it start immediately after pressing the button and computer boots? Why does it hang for 4 seconds and start right after that? is it a problem or normal behavior?
 
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illusionx

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It is about 4-5 seconds. I'll go tomorrow look for the compressed can thingie hopefully I'll find one even though I never seen one and do as you suggested. If the can is more than 20$ it might not worth it.
I was thinking if nothing works, to look up a Sapphire Radeon HD 4870 512MB DDR5, it's about 185$. I think it should perform around the same as my old one?

Does my computer worth investing in 185$ ?
Config: Asus 8800 GTX on Asus Commando, 4 x 1gb DDR2 800 Kingmax, Core 2 Duo E6600, 1 x 400GB WD
 
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illusionx

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I've been running the cpu oc'd at 3ghz for almost a year now. That should not be a problem. Your saying got me thinking about even trying to save the old card. 30% better gaming experience sounds lovely. Also I'm playing at 1680 x 1050 and I hope it does apply to that resolution.


 
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illusionx

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Ok I'm totally baking it. Be back with the results in a few hours. edit: do I need to apply thermal paste on the GPU before assembling it back together? Cause I don't have any on me and I wouldn't go out and buy some unless it's a must.
 
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illusionx

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The card's been out of the oven for 20 minutes now.
I found some old syringe with paste in some drawer that I have used to mount my aftermarket cpu cooler a year ago. That should work fine I guess.

I've done everything as in the video tutorial. Used aluminium to fix it up in the air and so on. Kept it in for 10 minutes at 200 Celsius. In 40 minutes I'll try applying the paste and reassemble it hopefully I'll get that right since I unscrewed like 25 screws. I'll keep you posted.

 
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coozie7

coozie7

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He He...Another missed sale thanks to the 'net:)

But, the 'ovenbaked' solution only works for poor solder connections, it will not solve, as has been said, faulty memory chips.
If this does work (GL) I suggest you look for a replacement cooler, I'm certain the fan should spin up to full speed then settle down when the system is booted: Did it do that when you first used the card, Illusionx?

As for the rest of your system: Yes, there is plenty of life in the old dog yet! But more RAM will make things a lot nicer and they are virtually giving it away. If the card works out, why not treat it to 4Gb (2X2Gb sticks)? The Egg has masses under $50 US, some with free shipping, just check with your MB manual that it supports the voltage, some high performance kits use 2.1 volts and not every MB can deliver that voltage.
While you have the side off, take a look at the other coolers and give them a clean as well!
 
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coozie7

coozie7

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Oh well, nothing ventured, nothing gained:(

http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/radeon-geforce-graphics,review-31583-6.html

As a guide: try to search Saturday/Sunday to catch the 'weekend specials'. Do n't pay too much more for an overclocked card. Do n't bother with 2Gb of card memory.
A lot of cards have coolers that dump their heat back into the case, this is fine as long as the case has good ventilation, otherwise avoid them.
EVGA, XFX and BFG have the best warranties and customer support.
Read the Newegg reviews, even if you purchase elsewhere, those customer reviews can highlight issues missed by normal reviews.

As a slight upgrade/direct replacement look to the GTX260 or 1Gb HD4870. If you play at 1920x1200/1080 and found things a little slow the GTX275/HD4890 are more expensive but better suited to the higher resolution.
 
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illusionx

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I will be playing at 1680x1050; Yeah things were not perfect on my GTX (GTA 4 for example). I was thinking about the 4870 1GB - it is a little more expensive than the 512 but it might worth it? GTX 260 seems to be in the same price range as 4870 1GB, should I look into that?; The 275 and 4890 are a little expensive..


The link you gave me is confirming my 4870 1GB as being a good buy and even an upgrade.
 
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coozie7

coozie7

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Yes, it is worth the extra for the 1Gb HD4870.
Both GTX260 and HD4870 perform much the same, each does better in certain games than the other but overall neither has a deal crushing superiority.
And yes, the HD4890/GTX275 are really better suited to 19x12, not that they'll be wasted at 16x10 but the other cards are a better match.

I'm sure others will add to my 'buyers guide' but if you follow that advice you will not go far wrong.

The E6600 is a good overclocker BTW and it really can make a difference in games that are CPU intensive but read up on the subject first.
 
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illusionx

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I remember studying the E6600 OC issue and being able to top it to 3 GHZ only being limited by the cheap memory to go further. It already has a Tuniq Tower 120 installed on it.
Good to know once I get my card I'm still going to be ready for playing the latest games at my 22" native resolution, considering the fact that I have this rig for 3 years now. :)
 
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